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Robert Hegyes (May 7, 1951 – January 26, 2012) was an American actor best known for his portrayal of high school student Juan Epstein on the 1970s American sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.

Robert Hegyes Cause of Death
On January 26, 2012, after suffering from chest pains at his Metuchen, New Jersey home, Hegyes died from an apparent heart attack at John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Edison, New Jersey. Robert Hegyes was 60 years old at the time of his death.

Welcome Back, Kotter Wedding Scene (this video is likely to get deleted)

Robert Dickey (Bobby Purify) died December 29, 2011

James & Bobby Purify were an R&B singing duo, whose biggest hits were "I'm Your Puppet" in 1966, which reached #6 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and in a re-recorded version #12 in the UK Singles Chart (in April 1976), and "Let Love Come Between Us" in 1967, which reached #23 in the U.S.

Robert Dickey cause of death
Robert Dickey's Cause of death was not released.
Robert Dickey was 72 uears old at the time of his death.

I'm Your Puppet - James & Bobby Purify

Ralph MacDonald (March 15, 1944 Harlem, New York - December 18, 2011 Stamford, Connecticut) was an American percussionist and song-writer. He joined Harry Belafonte's band at age 17. He wrote the Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway song "Where is the Love" with songwriting partner William Salter. Probably his best-known composition is the Grover Washington, Jr. - Bill Withers hit "Just the Two of Us", which has since been covered by many artists, including Will Smith.

His recording credits number in the hundreds and include George Benson, David Bowie, Aretha Franklin, Art Garfunkel, Billy Joel, Quincy Jones, Carole King, Miriam Makeba, David Sanborn, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Luther Vandross, Amy Winehouse, and Jimmy Buffett, whose Coral Reefer Band has featured MacDonald as member since the late 1990s.

Ralph MacDonald cause of death
Ralph MacDonald died after a long illness.
Ralph MacDonald was 67 years old at the time of his death.

Grover Washington Jr. Featuring Bill Withers - Just the Two of Us

Roberta Flack / Donny Hathaway - Where Is The Love (1972)

Roger Williams (born Louis Weertz, October 1, 1924 – October 8, 2011) was an American popular music pianist. As of 2004, he had released 116 albums.

In 1955 Williams recorded "Autumn Leaves", the only piano instrumental to reach #1 on Billboard's popular music chart.   In 1966 he had another Top Ten hit with the song "Born Free" from the motion picture soundtrack. His other hits include "Near You", "Till", "The Impossible Dream", "Yellow Bird", "Maria", and "The Theme from Somewhere in Time". Billboard magazine ranks him as the top selling piano recording artist in history with 18 gold and platinum albums to his credit. Williams was known as the "Pianist to the Presidents" having played for nine administrations beginning with Harry S. Truman. His last White House performance was in November 2008 for a luncheon hosted by former First Lady Laura Bush.

Roger Williams cause of death
He died on October 8, 2011, one week after his 87th birthday of pancreatic cancer.

Autumn Leaves Roger Williams 1955

Roger Williams Excerpts From Vegas 2010 part 2

The Four Freshmen is a multiple (six) Grammy-nominated American male vocal band quartet that blends open-harmony jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires (Glenn Miller), The Pied Pipers (Tommy Dorsey), and The Mel-Tones (Artie Shaw), founded in the barbershop tradition. The Four Freshmen is considered a vocal band because the singers accompany themselves on guitar, trumpet, bass, and drums, among other instrumental configurations.

The group tours internationally to sold-out audiences and records jazz harmonies since its late '40s founding in the halls of the Jordan School of Music at Butler University (Indianapolis).

Ross Barbour cause of death
The last surviving founding member Ross Barbour died on August 20, 2011 from lung cancer in Simi Valley, California.  Ross Barbour was 82 years old at the time of his death

Related Blog
Bob Flanigan, Four Freshmen Founder, Dies 84 (May 15, 2011)

Robert Breer (1926 – August 12, 2011)

Robert Breer, an animator whose use of novel techniques to set lines and forms scrambling across the screen opened up a new language for film, died on Aug. 11 at his home in Tucson. He was 84.

 Swiss Army Knife with Rats and Pigeons - Robert Breer (1980)

REcreation (Robert Breer)

Robert Frank "Rob" Grill (November 30, 1943 – July 11, 2011) was an American lead singer, songwriter and bass guitarist of the rock and roll band, The Grass Roots.

Grill launched a solo career in 1979, assisted on his solo album by several members of Fleetwood Mac. Responding to 60s nostalgia, Grill then reformed The Grass Roots (billed "The Grass Roots Starring Rob Grill") and had with the toured the United States with the reunited outfit since the 1980s.

Grill composed sixteen songs for The Grass Roots and his solo album. One of these appeared as a single "A" side. It is "Come On And Say It". His other fifteen compositions appeared on single "B" sides and albums. He wrote frequently with Warren Entner and they were considered a songwriting team. Grill played with The Grass Roots on sixteen albums, seven of which charted. He took part in thirty two Grass Roots singles released, twenty one of which charted.

Rob Grill Cause of Death
Grill died July 11, 2011 in an Orlando, Florida hospital. He had been in a coma since sustaining a head injury several weeks earlier when he fell after suffering a stroke in northern California. Rob Grill was 67 years old at the time of his death.

Roberts Scott Blossom (March 25, 1924 - July 8, 2011) was an American actor and poet.

Blossom won three Obie awards. After his long career, Roberts Blossom is perhaps best known for a small role in Home Alone.

In the thriller Deranged, Blossom played the leading role as killer Ezra Cobb. In the Oscar-winning film drama The Great Gatsby (1974), he was accompanied on-screen by Robert Redford. He won the Soapy Award for his role on Another World, on which he appeared from 1976-1977. In 1990 he starred in Home Alone as Kevin McCallister's (Macaulay Culkin) snow-shoveling neighbor, Old Man Marley. In the comedy Doc Hollywood (1991), he appeared on-screen with Michael J. Fox.

He retired from acting in the late-1990s to pursue writing poetry. He lived in Berkeley, California, and resided in Southern California until his passing on July 8, 2011.

Roberts Blossom cause of death
Roberts Blossom died of natural causes.  Roberts Blossom was 87 years old at the time of his death.

"Deranged" movie trailer (1974 Roberts Blossom A.I.P.)

Randall Mario Poffo (November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011), better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler and actor best known for his time with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He also had a short run with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Savage held twenty championships during his professional wrestling career and is a seven-time world champion: a two-time WWF Champion, four-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, and one-time USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion. Also a one-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, WWE has named Savage the greatest Intercontinental champion of all time and credited him for bringing "a higher level of credibility to the title through his amazing in-ring performances." Aside from championships, Savage is the 1987 WWF King of the Ring and the 1995 WCW World War 3 winner. For much of his tenures in the WWF and WCW, he was managed by his real life wife, "Miss Elizabeth" Hulette.

Miss Elizabeth died May 1, 2003, at the age of 42

Randy Savage Cause of Death
Randy Savage suffered a heart attack around 10AM while driving on a highway in Tampa, Florida before losing control of the vehicle and crashing.  Randy Savage was driving a 2009 Jeep Wrangler when he "veered across a concrete median ... through oncoming traffic ... and "collided head-on with a tree." His wife Lynn was a passenger but survived with "minor injuries". According to officials, both were wearing their seat belts at the time.
Randy Savage was 58 years old at the time of his death

 Macho Man promo

Richard Burton "Rich" Cronin (August 30, 1975 – September 8, 2010) was an American singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and primary songwriter for the pop group Lyte Funky Ones or LFO.

LFO
Cronin was the founding member of the pop group LFO. The group's breakout hit "Summer Girls", was written by Cronin in 1999, hit #3 on Billboard's Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Single Sales chart for six weeks. The single also went platinum in the US with sales of over 1,000,000 units. The group disbanded in 2002.

Illness and death of Rich Cronin
In March 2005, Cronin went to the hospital after suffering from constant headaches. He was diagnosed with a form of leukemia known as acute myelogenous leukemia. He was given chemotherapy at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. In January 2006 he went into remission. He started his own foundation called the Rich Cronin Hope Foundation to raise awareness about the deadly disease; making it his mission to educate people about the urgent need for donating blood, and even more so, bone marrow.

In the summer of 2010, his condition worsened, and he was admitted for further treatment at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. On the afternoon of September 8, 2010, Rich Cronin died in the hospital after suffering a stroke, at the age of 35.

Summer Girls by LFO

Robert George Schimmel (January 16, 1950 – September 3, 2010) was an American stand-up comedian whose material was often X-rated and controversial. He was perhaps best known for his comedy albums and his appearances on HBO and The Howard Stern Show. Schimmel is number 76 on the 2004 program Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-Ups Of All Time.

Health
Schimmel battled lymphoma into remission and the disease did not return. He also survived a heart attack

Car accident and death
On August 26, 2010, while travelling on Arizona State Route 101 in Scottsdale, Arizona, Schimmel was involved in a major car accident that left him in a very serious condition. Schimmel's 19 year old daughter Aliyah was driving with her father and brother. Police reported that she was run off the road by an out-of-control SUV and lost control of the vehicle which rolled over a concrete embankment. It came to a stop on its side on the shoulder of the freeway. Aliyah Schimmel was hospitalized and is in stable condition. Schimmel's son was not injured.

On September 3, 2010, Schimmel died of his injuries. He was survived by five children.

*Thank you Darrah & Russ for contacting me.

Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale, Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was a United States Senator from West Virginia. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrd served as a Senator from 1959 to 2010 and was the longest-serving senator and the longest-serving member in the history of the United States Congress.

On June 27, 2010, Byrd became ill and was admitted to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax County, Virginia, for what was assumed to be heat stroke and dehydration.  However, other medical conditions emerged and Byrd was described as "seriously ill."  Robert Byrd died at approximately 3 a.m. EDT the next day at age 92

* Comment disabled for political figure *

Rue McClanahan (February 21, 1934 – June 3, 2010) was an American  actress, known for her roles as Vivian Cavender Harmon on Maude, Fran Crowley on Mama's Family, and Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, a role that won her an Emmy Award.

Death of Rue McClanahan
McClanahan's manager, Barbara Lawrence, said McClanahan died Thursday June 3, 2010 at 1am. of a stroke.
Rue McClanahan was 76 years old at the time of her death

"She went in peace."

* Related links: Deaths of Golden Girls cast

• Golden Girls' actress Estelle Getty dies 84 (2010-03-17)
• Golden Girls TV star Bea Arthur dies 86 (2009-04-25)
• FYI: Betty White (88) is alive and well.

* Thank you 1metalfan for original post.

" Sad news for the Rock & metal world today. Ronnie James Dio has lost his battle with Cancer. It was reported that he passed away today. He will be sorely missed. "
- 1metalfan -

Ronald James Padavona
Born: July 10, 1942 Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA
Died: May 16, 2010 (67) Houston, Texas, USA

Ronnie James Dio was an American heavy metal vocalist and songwriter. He performed with Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, and his own band Dio. Other musical projects include the collective fundraiser Hear 'n Aid. He was widely hailed as one of the most powerful singers in heavy metal,  renowned for his consistently powerful voice and for popularizing the "devil's horns" hand gesture in metal culture. He was collaborating on a project with former Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice, under the moniker Heaven & Hell, whose first and only studio album, The Devil You Know, was released on April 28, 2009.

Death of Ronnie James Dio
Ronnie James Dio died at 7:45 am (CDT) of stomach cancer.
Ronnie James Dio was 67 years old at the time of his death.

Statement from Official Fan Site:
"Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45am 16th May. Many, many friends and family were able to say their private good-byes before he peacefully passed away. Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all. We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us. Please give us a few days of privacy to deal with this terrible loss. Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever."

Robert Martin Culp
Born: August 16, 1930 Oakland, California, United States
Died: March 24, 2010 (aged 79) Los Angeles, California

Robert Culp was an American actor and scriptwriter, perhaps best known for his work in television. Culp earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy (1965-1968), the espionage  series, where he and co-star Bill Cosby played a pair of secret agents.

Culp came to national attention very early in his career as the star of the 1957-59 Western television series Trackdown  in which he played Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman.

He played a murderer in three separate Columbo episodes.
In 1981 he got his big break back into the television realm when he starred in The Greatest American Hero.

One of his most recent recurring roles was a part on Everybody Loves Raymond as Warren Whelan, Ray's father-in-law.

He appeared on episodes of many other television programs including a 1961 season three episode of "Bonanza" titled Broken Ballad, as well as The Golden Girls, The Nanny, The Girls Next Door and Wings.

Death of Robert Culp
Culp died on March 24, 2010 after a fall that took place outside his Los Angeles home.  Robert Culp was 79 years old at the time of his dealth.

Robert Culp (as a waiter) on "Get Smart"